Fedor Emelianenko Released by Strikeforce Following Third Loss in a Row (UPDATED)

The former Pride champion and Russian legend has been released from Strikeforce following his third loss in a row, the latest coming by way of TKO to Dan Henderson this last weekend in Chicago.

UFC president Dana White on Thursday confirmed his release to MMAWeekly.com.

“Yeah, he’s being cut,” White confirmed. “You guys thought he was the pound-for-pound best in the world, I said he was overrated for years.”

Emelianenko’s legendary undefeated run first came to a halt when he faced Fabricio Werdum last year, and after clipping the Brazilian early in the fight, he was submitted by triangle choke.

Bouncing back earlier this year, Emelianenko entered the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix where he met Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and was simply overmatched by power and size. The fight was stopped after the seond round as Emelianenko suffered huge swelling in and around his eye.

The final nail in the coffin came at Strikeforce this weekend when he lost to current light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson in a special heavyweight attraction. Fedor dropped Henderson with a good punch, but in the scramble to finish the fight, he found himself on the bad end of a Henderson uppercut.

Emelianenko went limp, falling flat to the mat and referee Herb Dean rushed in to stop the fight.

The question must have been: Which two asswipes have been over rated for so long, and now cut by the UFC?

BigGuy

Answer: Fedor & Overeem

BigGuy

Hahaha…What a fucking douche bag!!! I am glad the UFC finally got the chance to stick it right in Fedor’s ass! I hope M-1 Global is happy with this.

Fedor + M1 = unemployed! Have fun in Japan, fuck-nuts!

wonggfan

Do u realize how uneducated you sound?

jared499

@ wonggfan

Wow I actually agree with you on this one, this guy does sound like an idiot.

Good Call

BigGuy

Great observation from the guy that still lives in his mommy’s basement!

jared499

@BigGuy
Sadly to say I do not live with my parents, but would allow them to move into any of my houses anytime they want, all expenses paid.

You do realize that when you make comments that are filled with curse words and slang it implies that either you are uneducated or a child. You are probably niether, but the way you present yourself does not imply that.

Either way thanks for the laugh.

Great way to show your ignorence even more.

wonggfan

BigGuy is a typical UFC fanboy. Most UFC fanboys are either uneducated adults or young kids.

Your right, Bigguy sounds like an idiot.
Why would you put down a legend? !

jared499

Wow, I will be the first to say that I am at least a little suprised by this move.

I think Dana is passing up loads of money for making certain fights with Fedor and the UFC roster. While these fights would have no title implications, they are still wanted by the fans. And he is doing this out of revenge for Fedor and M-1 ducking the UFC all those times in the past.

While I will not defend Fedor’s performences over the last three fights, I will defend his legacy. This is a man who beat all HW contenders put in front of him during the Pride days. And during this time Pride had the best roster of HW probably without argument. The issue now is that all of those fighters have come to the UFC on the tail end of the careers and are losing. So everyone assumes that they were overrated from the beginning. I am sorry, if Fedor would have been in the UFC during that period of time, he would have demolished the HW roster. I mean who was there: Mir, Arlovski, Tim Silvia, Rico Rodriguez, Wesley Cabbage Carrera, Paul Buetello, Justin Eillers, and my alltime favorite heavyweight contender Gan McGee.

Sorry Dana, I have defended you 100% of the time when people are calling you a “douchebag”, but this was a douche move and you know it. You say all the time you give the fans the fights that they want, and I am sure that there are still a large number of us that would like to see Fedor fight in the UFC.

My top Five Fedor matches in the UFC today:
1 Fedor vs. Couture – This would be epic and draw out a crowd and you know it. Unfortunately it would probably be a loss for Randy.
2. Fedor vs. Lesnar – Well it would not be the same as it would have been 2-3years ago, but lesnar could draw 1 million PPV buys fighting a plastic bag, can you imagine the amount of people who would pay to see him fight a legend of the sport.
3. Fedor vs. Cain – simy put a passing of the torch style match.
4. Fedor vs. JDS – same as above.
5. Fedor vs anyone else – because he is a legend and when he does retire will be one, if not the best, of the best heavyweights in MMA.

Unador

Jared499,

You are absolutely correct. Cutting Fedor was a poorly thought out action.
Huge amounts of Fedor fans out there, and that guy is game. A great many desirable match ups. A huge source of income for UFC/Zuffa.

Plus I think that guy can get down to 205. Even more fights for him.

Cutting their nose off to spite their face?

JoeWang

Very well put Jared.

It peeved me to no end when TUF MMA fans jump on Dana’s “Fedor is overrated” bandwagon. Dana’s just got a bug up his ass about M-1’s dealings.

Couture vs.Fedor would bring in so many buys. As would Lesner vs. Fedor.

wonggfan

Not anymore.

Fedor lost to Hendo, a 185lber that was never a top 5 205lbers. Hendo lost to Rampage, Arona, and Lil Nog. Fedor should have destroyed Hendo.

TUF MMA fans are white trash uneducated former WWE fans. What do they know about sports? They just want to see some ass kicking. They are mostly the retarded types who walk around in public in a Tapout shirt. <–fuck, can't stand those types! They should wear, "Property of Dana White" shirt.

jared499

@JoeWang

I will say that I do not like the way M-1 and Golden Glory do business either.

This whole thing would be null if M-1 had not been in charge of negotiations for Fedor. He would have signed, dominated, and retired rich, more popular, and probably recieved a cush job like Chuck got from the UFC. Could imagine it now, Fedor as a UFC ambassador to different counties like Russia and Japan, where the UFC has plans to go.

M-1 wanted to ride the coat tails of thei #1 guy so that they could build their own promotion. Backfired on them becuase they have no real talent other then the now promotionless Fedor, and no real big payday promotions to go to.

hellstorm

I have to say i feel Fedor was a little overated, a great”RING” fighter for nearly a decade doesnt mean you would have been a successful” CAGE” fighter!The brett rogers and even his fight with lindland clearly show that………..though he still is game and the UFC should give the guy 1 more shot in their org.! Fedor vs couture would be good but 5 yrs past when they should have fought .im thinking more Fedor vs 50 yr old “DAN SEVERN”…..and the winner gets an automatic title shot….LOL!!!!

wonggfan

Fedor vs anyone is irrelevant. The dude just lost to Hendo.

I agree with the cut. I just hate the way Dana is handling this situation, like a bitch.

He was scared of Fedor back in 2007~2010. He had to re-create the whole HW division just to counter-program Fedor. Even his fighters disagreed with Dana! Firing Werdum for no reason after robbing him his title shot, Robbing Big Nog of his title, luring Randy back in to the UFC and praying that Brock knocks him out, trolling on BIG AMERICAN WRESTLERS.

BigGuy

This jerkoff thinks people are going to run out and pay to see Fedor vs. Couture. Yes, I am dying to see 2 washed up legends that my sister could probably beat up at this point in their careers.

Get out from between your mother’s legs and start waking up.

jared499

@BigGuy

You are joking right. How many UFC cards have there been that people say are not going to work, then in the end have a good gate number and good PPV numbers.

Fedor vs Couture would sell because the UFC is the promoter. These are the same people that sold us, and made most people believe that Vitor Belfort was the biggest threat to Anderson’s title ever, or Shields being the biggest threat to GSP, or countless other matches that never live up to the hype that is given to them.

Again with the derogatory comments, are you sure your not the one living in your mother’s basement. Were you not loved enough, so you are acting out. In case you are not aware some people on these sights are kids and should not have to read the curse filled slang that you are putting out, a little class ges a long way.

BigGuy

BigGuyThis jerkoff thinks people are going to run out and pay to see Fedor vs. Couture. Yes, I am dying to see 2 washed up legends that my sister could probably beat up at this point in their careers.

Get out from between your mother’s legs and start waking up.

bajafox

He can’t win and he can’t sell tickets, very easy decision for Zuffa

trupert

Ok, what MMA org has the money to do this; Have a 16man, heavyweight tourney, double-elimination. Pretty much juicing out any little bit of skill and/or name recognition left in these heavyweights. Do all 5 fights in under a year, starting Jan 1st and let the top 2 into the UFC. Give winner an immediate title shot and the runner up a #1 contender fight. Not sure how you would seed it, though. Also, I figure the ‘best performing’ eliminated (get 2 loses) fighter could serve as an injury replacement. Also, obviously have it seeded where brothers don’t fight each other. Actually have Fedor vs V.Overeem and Alistair vs Alex. Emel., that should solve that, right?
Thoughts?
Fighters:
Fedor
A.Overeem
B.Rogers
P.Rizzo
Ricco Rod.
Arlovski (maybe not…especially if he loses in ProElite)
J.Monson
Jon Olav Einemo
Neil Grove
Tim Sylvia
V.Overeem (Alistair’s bro…..gotta keep the GG peeps happy)
Alex. Emel. (Fedor’s bro…..gotta keep the M1 peeps happy)
Peter Graham (just beat Fedor’s bro last Dec)
T.Hague
T.Duffee
Abe Wagner

trupert

Have Paul Buentello on standby for the first 2 rounds as injury replacement

wonggfan

that Tourney sounds funny.

Overeem has destroyed a couple guys on the list already.

Winning such tourney would have no meaning since all of them are bums except for few decent ones.

trupert

True, very true. I was just trying to play ‘shady MMA promoter’ and salvaging something out of the non-Zuffa lingering heavyweights. You’re right, this would definitely be the last payday for most on the list….and a solid beating might be what it takes to get some of these guys to retire and go away! :o)

jared499

@wonggfan
Wow that is twice that I agree with you. The tourney mentioned makes no sense.

@trupert
The tourney mentioned makes no sense for the following reasons
1. If this SF tourney has proved anything, the format does not work. To many risks for injuries and contract endings and things of that nature.
2. Of the fighters you lised, most of them would not be able to carry enough interest to the promotion to carry the fights. Besides the Overeem and Emelianenko brothers, no one on your list has any promotional significance for anyone to put that much money on the line.
3. How do you come up with 5 fights, do you mean 5 events, with all fights on the event being the tourney. Most of the smaller promotions top out at 5 events per year, so what they can only promote this tourney?
4. Not one fighter on this list would deserve a title shot for winning this tournament.

I will however give you a better option, that will never happen, but would probably do better ratings wise

How about a season of The Ultimate Fighter with some of these guys. The winner gets contenders match, not a title match, but a highly ranked opponent to gage actual ability in the UFC. I would mix the participants with inexperienced and bring in some of the guys you mentioned.
1. Fedor
2. Allistar
3. Barnett
4. Jon Olav Einemo
5. J.Monson
6. Bigfoot Silva
7. Sergi
8. Cormier

wonggfan

Dana is a true class act!!!

If Fedor was overrated, Dana overreacted. I remember when Dana was shit scared to say that Nog was the HW champ but at the same time blocking Randy from fighting Fedor.

YES! Dana had to create this whole Brock Lesnar bullshit to counter-program Fedor.

And from time to time he has admitted that Fedor is #1 HW (although NOT p4p which belongs to Anderson Silva).

Pretty much this is a sad day for MMA which has long ways to go before being accepted as a true sport.

In no other sports would former champs be treated this way. That is why MMA will always remain a blue-collar underground shit sport.

hitman4451

Why is everyone bashing Dana when he clearly stated he has stayed out of the situation since Zuffa purchased Strikeforce? For all we know it was Lorenzo’s decision or Scott Coker’s (which I doubt but who knows).

bajafox

Finally, someone who makes perfect sense. I don’t understand the whole Dana bashing either, he has said time and time again that he stays out of Strikeforce business, this was most likely a call from the top, Zuffa, to drop a HIGH PRICED fighter who brings in no money and hasn’t beaten anybody of relevance in over 4 years. This was the right call, there is not enough interest in Fedor to keep him around with a 6 figure contract when he hasn’t proven anything in half a decade.

bajafox

Excuse me, 7 figure per fight deal…

IMHO, Fedor is not worth keeping around in Strikeforce, who is he going to face at $1M a fight? Who’s gonna give a crap? The hard core audience is not enough to pay for Fedors check and he hasn’t proven to be a draw outside of that audience in the US. He will most likely go back to Japan and fight 8 foot Chinese fighters

wonggfan

Again, read below.

No one is saying that cutting Fedor was a bad business decision. It makes sense to cut a 7 figure former champ. Fedor is probably making the most money in MMA thanks to his Russian management.

It’s the way Dana is behaving, like a child. Dana = Tito when it comes to class. I would put Frank Mir, Chael Sonnen, and Tim Sylvia above Dana and Tito.

Do you wonder why Dana and Tito never got along? It’s because both are white/mexican trash.

I bet you people like Randy just ignores Dana deep inside.

bajafox

Dana had nothing to do with the decision Zuffa had with Fedor, I don’t even know why Fedor and Dana are even mentioned in the same article…

wonggfan

I don’t hate on him because he somehow played a role in terminating Fedor’s contract.

Fedor’s contract was up anyway.

It’s the way this guy disses the greatest fighter ever in Fedor. If Dana knows anything about MMA, he should know that nobody had an impact on the sport of MMA like Fedor. Not Chuck Liddell. Not Randy Couture. Not GSP. Not Anderson Silva.

And for him to stand there as a UFC president and say shit like, “I’ve been trying to tell you all this time that Fedor is phony. And that is why we are cutting him.” That is just plain disgusting, immature, offensive, and classless.

Dana’s action, and some of the replies from guys on this board, clearly shows that MMA is predominantly followed by uneducated adults and young kids. MMA has a long way to go before washing off its blue-collar filth.

http://www.bloodyfists.net/forums/index.php SHORT_BUS

What a waste. Would have been great to have seen Fedor in the UFC a few years ago but he and his management opted to take easy money and easy fights in lower tier organizations where they could bully the promoters. Now he’s become comfortable and appears to no longer have the desire to train or fight.

He’ll probably fight again if there’s still guaranteed money on the table with Showtime but I don’t expect to see him put forth any real effort and I certainly don’t expect to see him fight any real competition. Wonder what Giant Silva is up to these days…

Mario

@ trupert

Your tournament idea is comedy!

LOL!!!

As for the news of Fedor being released..

Sucks.

That’s all I can say. Forever and ever, I will remember this man as a humble, MMA fighter who never bought into his own hype. True class act, regardless!

Fedor

wonggfan

@ trupert

Yeah I was laughing when I saw the list of cans and nobodies. Brett Rogers actually has a good chance to make it to the quarter finals. LOL!

Why not call this the Super Hulk Tournament II. I know hardcore MMA fans watched the first Super Hulk Tourney…it was funny as hell.

Let Fedor fight in the ufc hw division, start at the bottom and work his way to the top.

I do believe he could take any of the ufc hw’s.
He lost by sub to the best bjj fighter in mma. He lost to big foot who had 60 pounds on him and is a bjj black belt. He lost by “herb dean decision” against Henderson, which should be turned to a no contest. Fedor was still in the fight as Herb stopped it, as Fedor was getting punched in the back of the head by Henderson…